Improvement in cotton-carding engines



a. E. TAFT. COTTON-CARDING ENGINE,

No. 193,571. Patented July 24,1877.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

GUSTAVUS E. TAFT, OF NORTHBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-CARDING ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No l93,57l, dated July 24, 1877 application filed October 16, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAVUS E. TAFT, of Northbridge, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gotton-0arding subsequent work of drawing, slubbing, spinning, dressing, or weaving can produce cloth of the best quality.

Automatic stripping cards, as heretofore constructed, are large and expensive, and they are also defective in the combined arrangement of their principal working parts, as the chief group of workers operate on the cotton before the top-flats have removed the motes and trash from the fibers.

To produce a carding-engine of convenient size, and of increased power and efficiency, is the object of my invention, which consists, mainly, in the combination and arrangement, with the under worker, of the leader-in rolls, the group of top-worker and clearer rolls, and a series of non-revolving top-flats in relation to each other, so that the latter are located in advance of the group of top-worker rolls, and remove the motes, leaves, &c., before they are broken and diffused by the rapidly-revolving top-rolls. diameter, say thirty-six inches. I drop the feedrollers' and the dofl'er below a horizontal plane passing through the axis of the main cylinder, thereby increasing the space for the group of top-flats and the main group of workers and clearers around the upper surface of the main cylinder. I arrange the group of top-flats, with their self-stripping mechanism, around the main cylinder, as near to the point where the cotton is fed in as conveniently, and before, instead of after, the main group of workers and clearers, whereby the greater portion of the trash, broken leaves, and motes of every kindis removed from the cotton and discharged from the card by the stripping top-flats before I use a main cylinder of convenient the fibers reach the group of workers and clearers, which do a good part of the carding. This novel change in the relative arrangement of the top-flats and the main group of .workers and clearers is the characteristic feature of my present improvement.

In the drawings, A indicates the card side of the machine; B, the driving-pulleys. The dotted lines 0 indicate the outside of the clothing of the card cylinder, the worker, clearer, and stripper rolls. lap-roll, and E the feed-rolls. F indicates the leader-in, and 1 2 3 4 5 6, &c., the top-flats. H indicates the dofi'er. K and I indicate two rolls covered with card-clothing, for stripping and carding the cotton of the main cylinder. L indicates the comb, and J the calender-rolls, which deliver .the cotton to the railwaytrough. 0 indicates the belt which drives the clearers, leader-in, and the comb; f, the belt which drives the workers; 9, the belt which drivesthe lower roll K, and h the belt which drives the roll K at a different speed. i indicates a chain, which is operated by a chain- Wheel on the lower feed-roll, and drives the roller 1, and also the shaft M. This short shaft M has a miter-gear, which drives another mit-er-gear fixed on a small shaft, which has an eccentric, N, at the other end. This eccentric drives, by means of an eccentric strap, rod, and pin, the shipper-bar O. This shipper-bar O has two belt-guides, P, for shipping the belts g and h to and from loose pulleys, so that the roll I can be driven at varying speed, faster or slower than the main cylinder.

The operation is as follows: The cotton is fed from the lap over the lap roll, in the usual way. The feed-rolls E seize the cotton and convey it uniformly to the leader-in F, which, running faster than the feed-rolls, draws the cotton, and conveys and applies ituniformly to the main-cylinder card-clothing O. The main cylinder, running faster than the leader-in, straightens and opens the fibers and loosens the trash and motes, and carries the cotton forward under the group of top-flats 1 2 3 4 5 6, &c. The top-flats do not revolve, but areclothed with a carding-surface in contact with the cylinder, and catch and hold the trash, broken leaves, and motes of all D indicates the" kinds till they become filled or loaded, when they are automatically raised, cleaned, and replaced. The cotton, being carded and cleared of motes and non-fibrous matters by the group of top-flats, is carried forward by the main cylinder under. the succeeding group of workers and clearersO, (the group of three workers and two clearers,) the workers running slow and carding the fibers, the clearer-strunning fast, clearing the workers, and also carding the fibers, cards and lightens up the cotton, andtends to diffuse it evenly; over the main cylinder and dofi'er, so that an even anduniform sheet may be combed from the dofi'er H by the combL, in the usual way. The speed of the feed-rolls is adjustable to feed faster or slower. When much work is done the main cylinder requires more stripping than can be cylinder-stripper roll K is used. The roll I breaks and diffuses any bunches of cotton I claim- The combination, with the main cylinder, of the feed-rolls, the leader-in, the top-flats, the top workers, the dofi'er, the cylinder-stripper, and the under worker I, the several parts being arranged around the main cylinderin the following order, to wit: the feed-rolls, leader-in, top-flats, upper workers, dofi'er, cylinderstripper, and under worker, as and for the purpose set forth. i

GU STAVUS E. TAFT.

Witnesses:

Rom. K. BROWN, HENRY B. Oseoon. 

